Man City Smash Arsenal, Sheffield United-Aston Villa Draw in EPL Return

In the EPL’s return 2nd place Manchester City hosted Arsenal at the Etihad with David Luiz taking center stage. Luiz was subbed on after 23 minutes & his mistake led to the first City goal.

The first goal of the resumed Premier League season belongs to Manchester City's Raheem Sterling! #MyPLSummer pic.twitter.com/2c6YiQBIV0

— #MyPLSummer (@NBCSportsSoccer) June 17, 2020

Raheem Sterling got the Sky Blues going and it was Luiz who pulled Riyad Mahrez down to concede a penalty & get send off.

From the spot, no mistake.

Kevin De Bruyne doubles the City lead! #MyPLSummer pic.twitter.com/gLKyjgdL5G

— #MyPLSummer (@NBCSportsSoccer) June 17, 2020

Kevin De Bruyne scored from the spot to double the City lead & Phil Foden scored the 3rd for the hosts to put the game away.

European hopefuls Sheffield United traveled to Villa Park to take on relegation battling Aston Villa. The match started with the players kneeling to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

Before Premier League play kicked off, all 22 players on the pitch for Aston Villa and Sheffield United took a knee. #AVLSHU #MyPLSummer pic.twitter.com/YGPNzSOiEG

— #MyPLSummer (@NBCSportsSoccer) June 17, 2020

The highlight of the match was in the first half when Sheffield United looked to go up 1-0 but referee Michael Oliver and the goal line technology did not reward the goal for the visitors.

This was deemed to not be a goal by match officials. #AVLSHU #MyPLSummer pic.twitter.com/6i6lVEnhdV

— #MyPLSummer (@NBCSportsSoccer) June 17, 2020

The Hawkeye cameras were not able to pick up the ball due to the goalie, defender and the post being unprecedentedly close together & VAR was not involved because the system had not given Oliver any information to ask for a further review.

"This level of occlusion has never been seen before in over 9,000 matches."

The company that oversees goal line technology says it apologizes for not catching the play that could have been a goal for Sheffield United. pic.twitter.com/A6JwWyxARb

— #MyPLSummer (@NBCSportsSoccer) June 17, 2020

The match ended 0-0. All 20 teams in the EPL have now completed 29 games & will return to action this weekend.